Water Polo qualifiers for final Baku 2015 spots under way

  16 March 2015    Read: 1150
Water Polo qualifiers for final Baku 2015 spots under way
The final spots in the Baku 2015 Water Polo tournaments will be up for grabs throughout Europe.
Twenty-two nations are busy fighting for the final eight spots in the 16-team men`s Water Polo field at the Baku 2015 European Games, while 13 countries are battling for the last six spots in the 12-nation women`s competition.

The men`s qualifiers are broken down into four groups with the top two teams of each group booking their ticket to Azerbaijan. Those countries will join the seven men`s teams which qualified at last year`s junior continental championships and hosts Azerbaijan.

The top two of each of the three women`s qualifying groups also secure a spot at Baku 2015 with the five teams from last year`s women`s junior continental championships and hosts Azerbaijan.

Both qualifying competitions run until 15 March.

The hosting countries for the men`s tournaments are Netherlands (Group A with Greece, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovenia and Portugal); Austria (Group B with Turkey, Georgia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Moldova); Poland (Group C with Romania, France, Israel and Czech Republic) and Malta (Group D with Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland and Latvia).

The three women`s groups are being played out in France (Group A with Great Britain, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Portugal), Slovakia (Group B with Turkey, Israel and Bulgaria) and Serbia (Group C with Germany, Croatia and Romania).

Malta head coach Karl Izzo believes that Germany is the strongest side in the men`s Group D with Britain also being very physical.

"We can probably compete with the Brits and the Swiss and that gives us a chance to qualify for the Games in Baku if we can play to our full potential," Izzo told the Times of Malta.

Great Britain`s women`s head coach Mr. Nick Buller was confident going into the tournament after victories over fellow Group A teams France and Czech Republic in recent preparations.

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